But Sigismund did no further mischief that night, except that, in achieving a superb entrechat, he alighted with his whole weight on the miniature foot of his pretty partner, which he well-nigh crushed to pieces.

Throwing his body up to a great height for a moment, he leans back, his legs extended, beats an entrechat-sept, and, slowly turning over onto his chest, arches his back and, lowering one leg, holds an arabesque in the air.

But Taglioni's discontent impelled her to spend every spare moment whirling on her big toe, practicing her entrechat, or laboring over the art of smiling, naturally, with aching toes, aching back, aching thighs, and solar plexus almost exhausted from the unnatural strain.

Dancing must mean something more to him than a whirling and twirling of human beings -- he should at the least know the distinctive styles and figures of different countries, and not confuse an _entrechat_ with a _pirouette_, should be aware of the meaning of the terms _arabesque_ and _rond de jambe_, and understand to some extent the conventional language and history of grand ballet.